In order to ensure safety in the food chain and the health of humans and animals, feed is tested for its properties and the feed production process is monitored. Both livestock feed and pet food are inspected; in Austria around 3,000 feed samples are taken each year.
The Federal Office for Food Safety (BAES) is the authority responsible for controlling the commercial production and marketing of animal feed. The provinces (provincial governors) are responsiblefor monitoring the production, use and feeding of animal feed on farms. The BMLUK (Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Climate and Environmental Protection, Regions and Water Management) is the higher authority in Austria in the area of feed control and coordinates the tasks of the provinces and the Federal Office.
During company inspections, documents and records, various production processes and compliance with hygiene standards are checked.
To prevent buyers from being misled, labels, bag tags and accompanying documents are checked for proper labeling.
The production of animal feed must be traceable; it must be clear from the manufacturer's documents where they sourced the raw materials and where they sold their products on to.
Recommendations for the import of feed from third countries
As feed from third countries has an increased risk with regard to feed safety depending on the type of feed and origin, the feed business operator who first places it on the market in the EU is obliged to take the risk into account accordingly as part of the company's own HACCP concept and the company's own control plans. These self-checks must be risk-based and sampling must be representative.
In the case of self-checks, the number of analyses must be adjusted according to the increased risk based on the annual tonnages. The third country importer must therefore draw up a separate import-related monitoring plan for this purpose. As usual, this must be made available for official inspections by the Federal Office for Food Safety, otherwise a complaint will be raised.
Please note that the import-related self-checks do not replace the other self-checks specified in the general monitoring plan, but supplement this plan. The results of the self-checks must be allocated to batches and filed in a traceable manner. This means that care must be taken to ensure that certificates of analysis can be assigned to the respective batch/delivery and that the analyses are carried out in an accredited laboratory.